Swedish detention center

2008-03-13–2008-03-23

Inside some gloomy brick buildings outside the small village of Örkelljunga in southern Sweden, around 20 people are locked up in the Swedish migration authorities’ detention center, waiting to be sent back to their home countries. The maximum lock-up period is normally two months, after that a new decision has to be taken. Some, in this particular period the Afghans, are sent back quickly. Some stay for a very long time – stateless Palestinians have been locked up for as long as seven months. These are not criminals, just people who want a future.